Mindless Box [Otome][Horror Elements][Comedy] *Demo out!

[gabicho]

For faster updates and information, visit the Mindless Box tag on the Maimie's Toybox tumblr!
http://maimiestoybox.tumblr.com/

Mindless Box's kickstarter is going at a slow pace, but still going! I'd appreciate it if you took a look and shared, thank you!
Kickstarter

Updates:
10.16.2016 - Updated info and demo is out
12.06.2014 - Demo is out!
11.29.2014 - Demo pushed back due to personal issues. Production is back on schedule however for a hopefully soon release! My apologies! You can find the original post about it on the MT tumblr.
11.24.2014 - LemmaSoft forum post up, demo near completion for 11.27 release date!

Story:
“Mindless Box” is a dating sim from Maimie’s Toybox about magic, ghosts and romance. Players will join the young witch Emily as she fumbles her way through a seemingly mundane punishment. Spending her nights cleaning a set of old classrooms for the use of Autumn Harvest Academy, she soon finds a dirty secret buried within. As it cracks, leaking negative energy among other things into the air, she soon finds herself battling against a dark magic. A dear friend is sacrificed, another betrays her. Emily soon questions the very things that maker her her and just how much good the academy has done for her.

It's up to the player to make sure she doesn't lose sight of herself as well as helping the boy of their choosing find themselves. Mindless Box is a tale of family, love and demons; both inside and out.

System:
4 character routes with 3 endings each
2 hidden routes that incorporate every character
Various bad endings that may reveal new information about the MB universe
Adult version contains various erotic CGs
Over 126k possible words

Characters:

Team:
Just me! I'm doing the art, writing and programming.
You can find my other games on the MT tumblr linked above.

Screens:

Progress:
Story - 100% planned, routes mapped.
Scripts - 5%
Sprites - 100%
CGs - 0.5%
BGs - 25%
GUI - 75%
Story Programming - 0.2%

Downloads:
Demo version - 2016 Demo

Any questions, comments, critiques and everything in between are greatly appreciated. Though this isn't my first game, it's the first time I'm working with Ren'Py. I appreciate any and all help! Thank you!
I would also appreciate it if you would take a look at the kickstarter for this game!
Kickstarter
Thank you!

Questionnaire pertaining to demo! :
If possible, I'd love if you could take a few moments to fill out this questionnaire!

1. What connotes romance games to you? Is it struggle leading to a happy end, or sweet fluff cg events?
2. Is Emily too forced to the point that you can't relate to her?
3. Are any of the boys too over the top that you can't find them realistic?
4. How do you feel about visual novels that include things like item fetching?
5. Do short dating sims ending in romance bother you in the sense that it doesn't seem plausible for two people to fall in love in that time?

[ppppantsu]

This is really interesting! I've been fond of these elements since I was young. >W< )9
I see that you're a one-man team, good luck in everything!

The art is adorable~!

[potouto]

Ahhh it's nice to see you have invaded the visual novel community! I love your RPG Maker game very much ) I love Queen Mary's Script and Monster Love Party, excited to see this.

[Ghost #9]

Oh, I am loooooving the graphics for this game. Starting with that wonderfully eye-catching logo, and on down to the start page and the menu screen and even the text box... It all just works so well together! You kept up the theme from start to finish, and it goes perfectly hand-in-hand with the background and character art. What's even more impressive is the fact that you did all of this yourself! I feel that I have instantaneously become your fan.

Additionally, I am intrigued by your character descriptions. I must admit that the provided summary wasn't quite enough to initially pull me in, but the characters more than made up for it. Plus, I dig the Halloween-esque feel of it all. I am thoroughly stoked for the upcoming demo release, and I wish you all of the luck that the rest of the production goes just as smoothly!

[gabicho]

@ppppantsu - Thank you so much!
@Josie - Thank you for playing my other games! ;w; I hope I can do the visual novel genre justice.
@Ghost #9 - Wow thanks! I'm trying my hardest to incorporate the world in everything including the GUI, so I'm really happy you like it.
I admit that my story summaries are always lacking something pfft. I'm glad the character descriptions were able to pull you in at least. I hope the demo is up to your expectations too. I'll try my best!

[Sayumi101]

Slightly spooky, funny and romance coupled with a sense of mystery.... I'm intrigued!!
Firstly I'd like to say that the whole premise of the game just draws me to it. I'm LOVING the GUI, its just so cute (not really 'cute', but just perfectly fit for the feel of your game) I think your attention to details given you're doing this all by yourself is commendable.
I'm totally playing this when it releases and I really hope you get your demo done on time (is excited)
Good luck and keep up the awesome work.

[Googaboga]

I really like the sound of this. Everything seems so cool and fun X3. Good luck on your first ren'py project ^^.

[Noire]

Interesting art style, I totally love their character designs

[gabicho]

^ Thanks guys! I really appreciate the support.
Just a heads up that the demo will come out at 10pm CST today. It got delayed but everything's all set now. I just need to add the finishing touches. I hope to get some critique on it so I can improve for the full game. I'll also probably add some questions to be answered on the main post.

[Alan]

Looking forward to the demo!

I really loved the logo. The color and font design is stunning!

[ebi-hime]

Your art is seriously amazing (I love all the bright colors!) and the character designs are really awesome. I feel you can really tell the characters personalities just through their designs o:
I will look forward to playing the demo when it comes out~

[gabicho]

^Thank you so much!! I really appreciate it.

Also, I finally released the demo! You can grab it here:
http://maimiestoybox.tumblr.com/post/10 ... ndless-box

I'd really appreciate any feedback, comments, critique! The demo is rather short and is only giving a small taste of how the characters will be, but I'd love to hear first opinions. I'll edit the first post up above with a questionnaire. Enjoy!

[Sayumi101]

Congratulations on getting the demo up. I'm downloading it as I type. Will get back to you once I've played through it. ^^
I really still can't get over your beautiful art-style :')

[gabicho]

^ Thanks, I hope you enjoyed it!

This is a message cross posted to rpgmaker.net. So if you see this again, that's why lol
Thanks for checking out the demo! I've received some great criticism on many places. It really means a lot since I'm striving hard to make this game not terrible pfft

I was a bit thrown off when people sent me messages on tumblr and skype saying how they disliked certain characters. But then I realized that that is what I wanted. [as you can read here and here] The hard part now is trying to change opinions of them. It's easy to make an unlikable love interest. It's 10x harder to show through their words and actions that they can be redeemed. I'm trying my hardest to step away from black and white, inherently good and bad characters.

Somethings I know for sure I'm going to change is;
- Save GUI needs better buttons. Will possibly change it to screenshots.
- Preference GUI is hard to follow, will try to change as much as possible without loosing the aesthetic I was striving for.
- Needs proofreaders
- Reign in a few lines of dialogue for everyone.
- Will add more faces for both the boys and the teachers.

If anyone has anything else they think needs improvement, I'd love to hear it! Attacking the visual novel genre is a whole different world from my previous games, so I'd really love to hear feedback.

If possible, I'd love if you could take a few moments to fill out this questionnaire!

1. What connotes romance games to you? Is it struggle leading to a happy end, or sweet fluff cg events?
2. Is Emily too forced to the point that you can't relate to her?
3. Are any of the boys too over the top that you can't find them realistic?
4. How do you feel about visual novels that include things like item fetching?
5. Do short dating sims ending in romance bother you in the sense that it doesn't seem plausible for two people to fall in love in that time?


Thanks!

[MitsuIsh]

I just finished playing the demo. I feel that the save slots are kinda confusing... I love the screen and the (wine?) bottles, but slots with saved data look exactly the same as the slots without data. Only the last saved slot becomes red. On the other hand, when you load a slot, it says "You will lose this memory. Are you sure?" as if you were overwriting a saved slot. It confused me for a bit and I wondered if I had clicked save instead of load at first, haha. ><

Here are my answers to your questions... I just want to mention my opinions sometimes differ a lot from general otome gamers, so you don't have to consider everything I say. ^^'

1. What connotes romance games to you? Is it struggle leading to a happy end, or sweet fluff cg events?

Both; I enjoy the process of learning more about a character, experiencing struggles together, and then getting a happy ending as well as seeing sweet CG events in-between.

2. Is Emily too forced to the point that you can't relate to her?

Depends on what you mean by "forced"... do you mean that her personality is too specific or something? I personally tend to see the heroine of an otome game as another person rather than myself. However, it is nice to have a heroine that one can relate to. I like how Emily has a certain flaw, and she's aware of it. Most, if not all people, probably struggle with some sort of flaw in themselves. I'm hoping to see her fix that or improve by the end of the game, perhaps from one of her relationships heheh.

3. Are any of the boys too over the top that you can't find them realistic?

Nope, I think they're good from what I've seen in the demo.

4. How do you feel about visual novels that include things like item fetching?

I personally prefer pure visual novels. Mini-games aren't really my thing, but if it's not too troublesome, then they're okay.

5. Do short dating sims ending in romance bother you in the sense that it doesn't seem plausible for two people to fall in love in that time?

Depends on how much time passed in the story. To be honest, if two people are somehow strongly attracted to each other, then they usually fall in love pretty quickly. But in the case of a dating sim where there are many different characters, it can't be expected for that to happen in all routes. I think in a short dating sim, the best is just seeing the characters fall in love, and then the ending is the beginning of their "official" relationship.

On a side note, Daniel's my favorite right now. He seems like a cutie. xD Can't wait to finish his route once the game is released.